September 2015 entries

09/25/2015

By Cessie Spearing, ReSurge Associate Director for Communications and Advocacy

We had a great second day despite the fact that some boxes would not arrive until the evening. Though we weren’t able to do any surgery without our supplies and equipment, Tuesday was packed with training and collaboration with our local colleagues.

Not only have we partnered with a general surgeon, Dr. Seif Nuru of our host hospital here in Itigi, we have also been joined by Dr. Geofrey Giiti who traveled more than 530 kilometers to work with our team. Dr. Giiti, based at Bugando Medical Centre in Mwanza near Lake Victoria, is also a general surgeon who is at the forefront of expanding quality burn treatment in Tanzania. Furthermore, three surgeons from the capital city of Dodoma have traveled to Itigi to also learn from our team. They include attending surgeon Dr. Masumbuko Mwashambwa from the University of Dodoma, the largest university in the country, and two of his third-year general surgery residents.

Our volunteer surgeons, Dr. David Megee of Cincinnati, Ohio, and team leader Dr. Chris Conner of Houston, Texas, were eager to collaborate and promptly capitalized on training opportunities that arose. Dr. Conner was asked by the doctor-in-charge of St. Gaspar Dr. Anatole Rukonge, to present a case to the hospital’s medical staff including the visiting surgeons.

Dr. Conner’s lecture was well received and he was met with many enthusiastic questions and ensuing discussions. Next week, our two volunteer anesthesiologists will meet with local nurse anesthetists to assess their skills and also provide some training.

Dr. Chris Conner expounds on a case presentation to an audience of medical personnel. Photo by Jeffrey Davis.

Infographic by Issy Marks, Harvard Program in Global Surgery and Social Change

If you haven’t had surgery yourself, you probably have a loved one who has. However, in most of the world, surgery is out of reach. Five billion cannot access or afford safe surgical care when they need it. This can lead to death, disability, loss of a loved one, economic hardships, social exclusion and the inability to live to one’s full potential. Surgical conditions represent nearly a third of the global burden of disease.

Luckily, surgery was available for Malala after she was shot –and now she is changing our world, as our colleague Issy Marks, of the Harvard Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, pointed out recently and created the above infographic.

All human beings are entitled to the right to health and wellbeing. Surgical care -- including safe anesthesia, obstetric care and trauma and reconstructive care -- represent fundamental services that need to be part of any health system. The economic and human impact costs are too high not to provide essential surgical care. ReSurge has seen this firsthand for nearly 50 years, seeing thousands of young children and adults move away from a life of disability and estrangement to a life filled with possibility, engagement and productivity after surgery.

This week, we are in New York advocating for neglected surgical patients as the United Nations General Assembly meets to decide the global development agenda for the next 15 years. The Sustainable Development Goals or post-2015 Global Goals, especially the health targets, are not possible without the inclusion of global surgery.

We need your support to help us continue to advocate for this importance of this issue. Billions of lives are depending on it. Please help spread the word and follow our advocacy work on Twitter: @ReSurge, @theg4alliance; with the relevant hashtags; #GlobalSurgery, #SafeSurgery, #SDGs, #GlobalGoals, #UNGA, and #CelebrateSurgery.

09/21/2015

by Cessie Spearing, ReSurge associate director for communications and advocacy

We're finally here! After nearly 20 hours of flying and 12 hours of driving, our team of volunteers has arrived safely at St. Gaspar Hospital in the village of Itigi in Singida, Tanzania. We are looking forward to clinic day tomorrow. The director of the hospital, Fr. Seraphine assures us there will be 20-50 patients to see.

Some of our boxes were missing. The airline assured us that they should arrive tomorrow. The hospital in Itigi will sent a van back to Dar es Salaam to get them. Besides dealing with the missing boxes and general exhaustion, everyone seems to be in great spirits, and I feel this will be a good trip. Our hosts are also very welcoming and eager to get started.

This is ReSurge's first surgical team trip of the year. In sub-Saharan Africa, an estimated 93 percent of people cannot obtain surgical care when needed. In Tanzania, burn injuries are a leading cause of disability. A team of eight surgical volunteers, with Dr. Chris Connor as team leader, will provide much needed surgeries for those with burns, other injuries and congenital anomalies. The team will also be working with local surgeons from around the country to develop surgical skills and exchange best practices. You can follow the team's progress on this blog.

09/13/2015

It’s almost surreal when you shake hands with Dr. Jorge Palacios. That’s because those hands -- with their large, distinctively thick fingers -- have changed more lives than a person can imagine.

A chief surgeon in Ecuador, he has operated on more than 6,000 children. He has performed more than 14,000 burn and cleft surgeries -- all at no cost. He has trained more than 20 surgeons, who join him on his quest to deliver care to the country’s indigent. He even travels his country in a bus so he can find and help the neediest patients, even in the remotest villages.

We were anxious to ask Dr. Palacios about his accomplishments when he visited our California headquarters during a recent U.S. visit. But he only wanted to talk about the children.

He took out his smartphone and showed us photos of a young burn victim whose face was disfigured, and who was treated as an oddity by people who just wanted to touch her scarred cheek. He showed us a ‘before’ picture of a 6-month-old with a bilateral cleft, and the ‘after’ photo of the boy being held by his beaming mother. And he showed us an infant whose mother left him on a church doorstep after he was born with a cleft.

The stories kept coming. He swiped through a dozen photos, telling us each child’s background and describing their procedures. Soon it was two dozen pictures, then three. The more he spoke the more animated he became.

“Look, this girl, you see no scar,” he said proudly, showing us a photo of a child whose cleft repair seemed flawless. “And here, see how happy her mother is.”

Sharing stories of hope at ReSurge.

There was more.

He showed us photos of a full moon glowing in the sky. He gazed at the images in silence. Then he shook his head slightly and sighed, “It is beautiful.” He showed us pictures of sunsets, brilliant colors splayed across the Ecuadorean skies. And then he showed a picture of a surgeon in a chair, fast asleep despite the uncomfortable-looking position.

“Ah, yes, it is Tom Davenport after a long day,” he recalled with a laugh. (Dr. Davenport, a ReSurge volunteer plastic surgeon and board member, is a partner with from the Long Island Plastic Surgical Group, which recently committed to helping ReSurge support our programs in Ecuador and train surgeons overseas.)

We’ve been privileged to have Dr. Palacios as a ReSurge partner for nearly 40 years. When he accepted our Donald R. Laub Humanitarian Award in 2012, to no one’s surprise he deflected credit back to others.

“I want to thank ReSurge for teaching me how to dream,” he said, “and for helping me understand that to live is to achieve as many dreams as you can.”

He is humble about how many lives he’s touched. But those who know him best are eager to extol his virtues for him.

Dr. George Gregory, himself a ReSurge legend, got his start with us under Dr. Palacios’ guidance more than 20 years ago. Dr. Gregory is one of the world’s most respected anesthesiologists, and he recalls being deeply influenced by the way Dr. Palacios was received wherever they went in Ecuador.

“I’ve never gone to a small town with Jorge where someone didn’t come running up: ‘Dr. Palacios, Dr. Palacios!’ because he’d operated on them or their child, for free. Everyone knows Jorge in Ecuador. The last time I was there we stopped at a gas station, and I said, ‘Jorge, why are you stopping?’ because he didn’t pull up to pumps. He said, ‘Well, I have a patient coming to see me.’ That’s what he does -- he’ll just stop at the side of the road and see patients. And he saw this kid with a cleft lip, said, yes, bring her on whatever day, and they brought her and we operated on her.”

That’s just a normal occurrence for Dr. Palacios, Dr. Gregory told us that people call his cellphone at all hours (“I’m amazed how many people have his cellphone number”) and Dr. Palacios will set something up.

09/09/2015

ReSurge volunteer photographer Jeff Davis is on the ground in Zambia reporting on our international medical partner and Zambia's only plastic surgeon, Dr. Goran Jovic. Davis has already been able to meet with several of our patients and witness firsthand how reconstructive surgery has changed their lives and the lives of their family members. Below is his account of Favour, a boy who suffered a debilitating burn injury at a young age.

By Jeff Davis, ReSurge volunteer photographer

When Favour was 3 years old, he was at home with his 12-year-old cousin who was looking after him. She was responsible for bathing Favour and set about the routine of boiling water for the bath. Like many children his age, Favour resisted taking a bath, but she convinced him to cooperate and told him it would be like swimming. The cousin left Favour for a moment to find a towel, and while the little boy was alone, he dipped his arms into the boiling water. He was scalded instantly and in his shock, splashed more of the hot water on his body and face causing severe burn injuries.

Favour's parents came home, and they rushed him to a community clinic in Lusaka. He stayed there for several days. The family became increasingly uncomfortable with the quality and depth of care, so they made a decision to move him to a different hospital in Lusaka. There, through a random encounter with another parent who also had a child with burns, they learned of Dr. Goran Jovic's work. They met Goran and brought Favour in for a consultation. Since the accident, the scar tissue that formed around Favour's injuries had begun to thicken and tighten, limiting the movement of his hands. His parents had "lost all hope that he would ever eat on his own, play with other children, be able to put his clothes on, or use his hands like other boys his age." They feared he would require constant attention to be safe and sensed he would never attend school or reach his dreams. However, Goran spoke to Favour's parents and brought them a new sense of hope.

Since that first conversation, Goran has performed six operations for Favour. Favour's hands, once frozen stiff from the scar tissue, were released, their function restored. He can now feed himself, play with other children, grasp toys and other items. He no longer suffers from pain. He now dreams of becoming a fireman. Nine months ago, he began school. Since his surgeries, he has been able to move and use his hands with great dexterity and loves to paint and draw.

Favour's father was overjoyed with the results of the surgeries and wanted to express his sincere gratitude, so he named his other son Goran, after the doctor who gave Favour a second chance at life.

Recognizing the life-changing ability of reconstructive surgery, Favour's father hopes that all children in Zambia will one day be free of preventable disabilities. He expands, "When I look at the whole process, I recognize that Zambia has to develop greater capacity to respond to these types of tragic emergencies. The greatest thing I wish for is that our country can develop an ability to help any child who needs this type of care in the same way my child was helped. I want people to know that these types of miracles can happen. I want others to have this opportunity for healing."

09/01/2015

When ReSurge sends a volunteer team to another country, we adhere to the same values that have guided our organization since it was founded decades ago. After ensuring our patients receive the best possible medical care, our top priority is to work with local medical providers to enhance skills and build capacity. By working to build the skills of our local teams, we are able to ensure our impact extends long after our volunteer teams have left the country.

In March, a 16-person team was dispatched to La Paz, Bolivia, for a two-week, hand-focused trip. One member, hand therapist Jolene Anderson, spent much of her time working with an eager team of Bolivian therapists.

Volunteer Spotlight on Hand Therapist Jolene Anderson

Jolene Anderson, OT, CHT, is an occupational therapist certified in hand therapy from Modesto, California. She is a member of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand and ReSurge volunteer hand therapist.

Jolene has a passion for South America.

As she says herself, she has always been drawn to South American culture finding that she often shares the same ideals as people in the region. So when ASSH and ReSurge established a partnership for a hand-focused trip to La Paz, Bolivia, Jolene jumped at the opportunity to use her skills in a place she already loved. “It wasn’t an opportunity I sought, but when it presented itself, I didn’t have to think before applying,” she says.

This was her first ReSurge trip and first time to Bolivia, though she’s had experience working in Ecuador as well.

For two weeks in La Paz, she teamed up with fellow volunteer therapist (also a member of ASSH) Cynthia Cooper, OT, CHT, and six Bolivian therapists to provide hand therapy for patients at Hospital Militar Cossmil.

Jolene seizes every opportunity to help exchange information with the young, Bolivian therapists. “It’s gratifying and fulfilling. I love working with local therapists and teaching. It’s also interesting. Here, you see cases you never see in the States."

Over the course of two weeks, Jolene and Cynthia saw about a dozen patients up to three times per week. Jolene worked with her local counterparts to strengthen splinting skills and teach other hand therapy techniques.

Two Bolivian therapists practice splinting techniques on one another while ReSurge volunteer Cynthia Cooper looks on.